This invention relates to a method of providing a menu display for a graphical user interface (GUI) and to a computer program, a computer-readable storage medium and apparatus for the same.
As is well known, GUIs are used in many interactive applications in which a user is required on occasion to select one of a series of user selectable options. Such GUIs can be found in computer systems, televisions, automatic teller machines, games consoles and the like.
Complex interactive applications, say requiring multiple menu structures, mean that the corresponding GUI must be simple, efficient and flexible if the user is to be able to use such an application quickly and efficiently. This may be achieved to some extent by providing a menu display which is firstly suitable for interfacing with a simple, ergonomic input device and secondly by providing a menu display which is intuitive in its operation.
Known input devices such as mouses, trackballs, keyboards, remote control keypads and touch sensitive screens each have physical attributes which make them either more or less preferable to use with particular menu displays, and indeed vice versa. For example, in our European patent application EP 0498082 A1, a curved band of selectable icons associated with menu options is provided to correspond to the natural hand-movement of a user using a hand-held pointer interface.
With respect to intuitiveness, for the operation of a menu system to be intuitive, it should be capable of operating in a manner which lends itself to the vagaries of human behaviour and anticipation. Although perhaps less quantifiable than physiological factors, intuitiveness is nevertheless important, and perhaps more so in a menu display used only infrequently.
It is therefore an aim of the invention to provide a menu display for a GUI which is capable of being operated quickly and efficiently.